Why Malta? A Mystery-Thriller Author Tells Why
"Why Malta?" my new Maltese friends kept asking me when they find out that my mystery-thriller The Cellini Masterpiece is set on Malta. Mind you, only the Maltese ask that question. (Some kind of national inferiority complex?) Americans ask "Malta Who?" or "Where the heck is Malta?" or "Is it about the Maltese Falcon?" (They must always think that they're the first ones to think that up.) The difference in questions is obvious. The Maltese are puzzled. Americans are plain ignorant. Someone once wrote that the way Americans learn geography is by war. Why Malta is the question that is harder to answer. My usual comeback is why not? That usually brings a laugh, but it's difficult to explain how a tiny bit of limestone southwest of Sicily should hold such an interest for an American for so many years. I will be 65 by the time this article is in print, but I fell in love with Malta sight unseen as a 10-year-old in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was a stamp collector and bought one of those cheap worldwide stamp packets, with one stamp showing Verdala Palace in Malta. Somehow it grabbed my interest, and a few years later I started reading about Malta until I had exhausted the local library collection. The chance discovery of a stamp led me to one of the most geographically and historically significant places in the world. Literally the crossroads of the Mediterranean, it has Neolithic temples pre-dating the pyramids and has been occupied by every world power since the ancient Greeks. I'm a historian, for heaven's sake. Who wouldn't be interested? I was hooked. My stamp collection turned into a business, which I named Maltalately (for Malta philately). Even so, all my life I wanted to write a novel set in Malta. At age 14 I read Cellini's Autobiography. The rogue artist absolutely intrigued me. I also know he lived in the mid-16th Century and that the Knights of St. John defeated Suleiman the Magnificent's Turks in the so-called Great Siege. It was the greatest holy war of all time and may have saved Europe from occupation by the Turks. Voila. Somehow my novel would involve Cellini and the Great Siege. I even had a punch-line. Now all I had to do was write it. It took more than twenty years but I finally had a finished draft in 1985. The Jonathan Lazear Agency decided to represent it. Unfortunately, they weren't able to find a publisher and the manuscript went back on the shelf to languish for nearly ten years before I finally went to Malta for the first time at age 54. I stayed at a bargain accommodation, the Soleado Guest House in Sliema. What a great location to set the novel! I dusted off the manuscript and started again. My first change was to give Rick, my hero's, sidekick a sex change. My male cab driver was now a sexy young woman. The manager of the Soleado, Joey Bugeja, got a gender change, too. He was now Josefina. How could I miss? The events of September 11, 2001, although tragic, provided another powerful plotline, since Malta is near North Africa and has close economic ties with Libya. I should be able to polish the book off in a couple of months, I thought. Not. Things still didn't fit together quite right. In September of 2003 I enlisted the help of a musician I had met while I was selling postcards. He liked thrillers and had a keen ear for the music of language and a discerning eye for the continuity of my story. Taking him on board was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and by the beginning of 2004 I could envision the final draft. Then I heard about the North African boat people who were landing in Malta. Wow. Now all I had to do was tie Benvenuto Cellini to Suleiman the Magnificent and add in a plot from World War II with another involving modern-day terrorists and refugees. What could be simpler? Even Snoopy could do it. Somehow I did do it. And according to my readers, successfully. Why Malta? Because there is no other place in this whole wide world where the story would make sense. The other answer to "Why Malta" is found, for me, in a quote from Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence. It could have been written for me. "I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them among certain surroundings, but they have always nostalgia for a home they know not?. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were familiar to him from his birth. At last he finds rest." SAHHA u hbibierija. To read a chapter of The Cellini Masterpiece, or to ask John a question or comment, log on to http://www.cmasterpiece.com
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Kmarts Ten Deadly Sins - AchieveMax Top Ten Book Review
Kmart's Ten Deadly Sins: How Incompetence Tainted an American Icon was begging to be written. It probably would have surfaced much earlier if not for the fear of many authors that publishing too soon would result in the omission of who knows how many future bewildering tactics by the forever transforming retail giant, K-mart. Actually, contrary to my early assumption, this book is less an indictment of K-mart than it is a combination of warnings and lessons to everyone else. There are so many negative examples in the news today of how NOT to succeed in business. However, many organizations fail to acknowledge or learn from these examples.
The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators, by Gordon Grice
The black widow spider is notorious for eating her mate as they copulate, but how many of us know much more than that about this beautiful, mysterious, spider?
The Legend of Juggin Joe - Review
The Legend of Juggin' Joe is a fiction based on a few
historical family members that is written with a light,
entertaining feel and a twinge of humor. This book is certain
to take you away from your reality, and into the shaded
mountains where moonshine is made!
Pariah - Book Review
"Pariah, written by multi-talented artist and author Timothy
Goodwin, is a science fiction, fantasy novel that incorporates
some very clear ideas to what is wrong with today's world.
The characters are colorfully portrayed and the battles were
very well written.
Cut to the Chase
The Review Diaries
"If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!
By Albert W. Thomas
She Unlimited Magazine
Review by
Veronica Marie Kettler
Atlantis Rises Book
Chapter one: Baby on the doorstep.
The Leadership Pill - AchieveMax Top Ten Book Review
The Leadership Pill is another volume for those of you anxious to add to your library of "mini-books." Ken Blanchard, a veritable self-help book-writing machine, partners with co-author Marc Muchnick to create this 112-page parable that every leader will want to read and share with those he/she mentors.
Getting Hip
Getting Hip by Sigrid Macdonald is a delicate story of one woman; Sigrid Macdonald and her beginning to end on a road to preparations and recovery from a total hip replacement. This book is a source of beneficial information for anyone who is searching for the facts about hip surgery. The information in this book can help to answer questions about total hip replacement, revisions, hip resurfacing, and preparations.
Gilleland Poetry ? Storoems and Poems - Review
"Retired professor of Microbiology, Harry Gilleland certainly
has a variety of experiences and thought-provoking insights
to share in his latest poetry book, Gilleland Poetry ?
Storoems and Poems. Harry's poetry has appeared at
numerous establishments over the years and he has
authored three books to date. His dedication to and love of
poetry is evident in the way that he writes his work.
Product Review: Affiliate Mistakes Special Report
In his ebook "Affiliate Mistakes Special Report," Chuck McCullough teaches you how to spot and avoid or correct ten simple, yet costly errors that can seriously damage your efforts to promote affiliate programs successfully. Instead of writing about the broad based generalities of affiliate marketing, Chuck takes you by the hand and teaches you why most affiliates never make a dime in commission. Then using a detailed and systematic approach, he provides you with an effective, easy to implement solution to correct these mistakes.
Fun Works - AchieveMax Top Ten Book Review
Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work
by Leslie Yerkes
Please Don?t Just Do What I Tell You, Do What Needs to Be Done - AchieveMax Top Ten Book Review
Please Don't Just Do What I Tell You, Do What Needs to Be Done: Every Employee's Guide to Making Work More Rewarding by Bob Nelson
Book Review: If You Are Over Fifty, You Are Entitled To Some Very Interesting Discounts On Travel:
Title: Unbelievably Good Deals and Great Adventures That You Absolutely Can't Get Unless You're Over 50 (2005-2006
Author: Joan Rattner Heilman
ISBN: 0071438297
Publishers: McGraw-Hill:
Spiders Big Catch
When I was in college, Spider McGee, Charlie Fox, and I loved to fish off the log boom in the river near my house on summer afternoons. We'd sit and talk about life, drink hot chocolate, and occasionally catch a fish or two. But one day, Spider yelled, "Hey, I got something, and it feels big!"
IZEE Growing Up In A Logging Camp: Introduction
Introduction
Atlanta Pastor Releases Book Of Life
Local Atlanta Pastor known for his charity work such as feeding the homeless, at risk youth and giving toys to children at Christmas time is releasing his first book entitled "Diary OF A Shattered Spirit". Pastor Adams says that this book will address some of the struggles and stresses that plaque our society today. This book touches on many personal struggles that people just don't want to talk about. This book gives an account of many trials that the Pastor has experienced in his childhood through adulthood and through the years of his ministry.
Book Review: Seth Godin - All Marketers Are Liars
Let me start with a small disclaimer: I am a HUGE fan of Seth Godin, and have been ever since he wrote Permission Marketing and probably always will be. Seth has a very unique take on traditional marketing (he thinks it's dead) and I agree with him. A nice summary of stuff Seth knows was kindly put together by Aaron Dignan at Brandplay.com
Thinking for a Change - AchieveMax Top Ten Book Review
John C. Maxwell is back again in Thinking for a Change: 11 Ways Highly Successful People Approach Life and Work to add to his more than 30 previous titles with his encouraging tone and down-to-earth writing style. As usual he offers a very simple premise: "To do well in life, we must first think well." This certainly is not a new premise. In fact, it's been around for years, and we've heard it paraphrased by dozens of authors of note. However, as usual, Maxwell simplifies, clarifies, and guides his readers on the journey of mastering "good thinking" to achieve their personal and professional potential. Through his extensive research over the years he has found that "successful people think differently than unsuccessful people."
Create Your Own Future - AchieveMax Top Ten Book Review
Create Your Own Future: How to Master 12 Critical Factors of Unlimited Success by Brian Tracy
Review: eBook Secrets Exposed
If you want to make a lot of money with your own eBookand you only read one book on the subject in the next12 months, I strongly recommend that it's 'eBookSecrets Exposed' by Jim Edwards and David Garfinkel.
|
